'Physical beings': stereotypes, sport and the 'physical education' of New Zealand Ma¯ori

ISSN： 1461-0981

Source： Culture, Sport, Society, Vol.6, Iss.2-3, 2003-01, pp. : 192-218

Disclaimer: Any content in publications that violate the sovereignty, the constitution or regulations of the PRC is not accepted or approved by CNPIEC.

Previous Menu Next

Abstract

This essay examines how sport, State education and physical education have contributed to the suppression of the indigenous New Zealand Ma¯ori by promulgating their stereotype as a physical and unintelligent people. It begins by providing an historical genealogy of the savage physical Ma¯ori stereotype. Next, this stereotype is shown to have justified a racist education system that channelled Ma¯ori into manual, as opposed to academic, areas. Later, Ma¯ori culture and Ma¯ori successes were afforded inclusion only within non-threatening domains such as physical education and sport. The ramifications of physical education becoming the first subject area to offer overtures to Ma¯ori, are examined. Lastly, I suggest that the naturalization of Ma¯ori as sportspeople contributed to the colonization process by assimilating Ma¯ori in an area that highlighted their supposed inherent physicality.